2016 Russian Team Championship Rd6-10 (2/2)

5/13/2016 – In this final report on the Russian Team Championship, you will read about the trials and tribulations of being the top dog, either being beaten down to size as "Malachite" in the Higher League, or utter domination such as "Legacy Square Capital" in the Women's event, winning two rounds in advance! It had it all from guts and glory to children's delight.

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Higher League

The Higher League is the team championship just below the elite Premier. While it may lack the Kramniks, Karjakins, Grischuks and Svidlers of the top event, the chess is no less exciting, hard-fought, or memorable. These are all players who aspire to not only see their team champion, but also earn the winner's right to play in the Premier League the following year and faces those Kramniks and others themselves.

"The Bronze Horseman" were the victors in the Premier League, striking gold in the last round

22 teams partook in the competition over nine rounds, with ratings averages ranging from just 2155 (the Moscow State University Faculty of Law) to the all-grandmaster lineup of team "Malachite" from Ekaterinburg with an average of 2583. In fact, four teams boasted average ratings of over 2500, and were the obvious favorites, and it was no big surprise to see one of them win. However, it shuld be noted that the top-ranked "Malachite" was not only not the winner, but came in all the way in 9th place, suffering four losses, showing just how tough the field was.

The winners' cups and medals

The winners of the event were the Muscovite team "SergArk", sporting only one player over 2500, Uri Eliseev, while the others all ranged just under that threshold. The composition was also quite interesting considering that four of the five players were aged between 18 and 23, with the exception of GM Sergey Arkhipov whose 62 years certainly struck a significant contrast. Don't think for a minute he was the burden on the team as he started with 3.0/3, losing only one game in round six.

IM David Paravyan and GM Uri Eliseev, both 18 and 20 years old respectively, from team "SergArk"

The heaviest scoring player on their roster was 18-year-old IM David Paravyan (2497 FIDE), who scored 6.5/9 with a 2642 performance. Here is an example of his tactical awareness:

David Paravyan - Evgeny Levin

With the rook on e8 defended, and the white bishop pinned, Black
felt safe in taking the g4-pawn with 38... Qxg4. What had he missed?
White to play and win.

Two of the top-rated players were Alexander Khalifman (left) and Denis Khismatullin (right).
Khismatullin was the strongest scorer of those who played all nine rounds, with 7.0/9 and
a 2742 performance. After a fall from grace, dropping over 100 Elo in the past two years
from a peak 2714, it would seem he is back to his winning ways.

Special mention must be made of GM Dmitry Kryavkin (2532), not so much because he scored
a superb 6.5/8 and a 2686 performance, which would be worthy of praise in and of itself, but
for his excellent running blog posted at the Russian Chess Federation's site, commenting after
every day on the moments and games he felt worthy of highlighting, as well as tournament
situations and players in all the events. He did this while playing great and preparing too. Kudos.

Another nice finish:

Shamil Arslanov - Grigoriy Palchun

The material is equal, and Black has a protected passed pawn on the c-file
as insurance he can push at anytime. Or so it seems. White to play and win.

Women's League

If the Higher League was an example of how challenging it was even for the top-rated teams, the Women's league was an example of the top-seed smashing the field so bad that they had effectively won with two rounds to spare. That bad.

Top seed "Legacy Square Capital" was without peers and had a perfect score. Impressive.

The team "Legacy Square Capital" led by Alexandra Kosteniuk and Kateryna Lagno on the top board plowed through the rest with merciless efficiency, scoring a perfect eight wins out of eight matches. It is also perhaps a slightly ironic example of their domination that only Kosteniuk actually outperformed her rating with 4.0/5 and a 2601 performance. Everyone else on her team played around their ratings or just below, but this was enough for an 8-0 sweep.

Kosteniuk's success was also due to her willingness to push the ticket and go for a win even
when it entailed some risk. Calculated risks it is true. Here she (right) faces Shuvalova in the
sixth round. See below.

Ekaterina Kovalevskaya and Alina Kashlinskaya also scored heavily and when it mattered

Although Kateryna Lagno's campaign was somewhat marred by her first round loss to teenager Goryachkina, she bounced back with three wins in the final rounds, always on the look out for her chances. Watch how she trapped her opponent WGM Natalia Pogonina in round seven.

Natalia Pogonina - Kateryna Lagno

Black played 44...Be5 attacking the rook, and White obligingly played
45.Rfb4? Black responded immediately, having tricked her opponent.
Black to play and win.

The All-Russian Championship of Orphanages and Boarding schools

Held in parallel, as an innovation to the overall competitions, was the All-Russian Championship of Orphanages and Boarding schools. This was also a team event, but it was by no means limited to competition as innumerous activities were organized to the sheer delight of the children there.

The team from Simferopol won the All-Russian competition of Orphanages and Boarding schools

A group photo of the coaches and guardians of the children

The playing hall where it took place

First some makeup to join in the fun

Body-size bubbles were created with a photo to remember the moment

A magician was also on hand showing all kinds of tricks

Games with animators were set up keeping the energy levels and spirits high

Albert SilverBorn in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications.

See also

8/27/2018 – Live games and commentary from Saint Louis! Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian tied for first place, while Caruana also tied for fourth place in the Grand Chess Tour standings with Wesley So, forcing a playoff match to be held on Tuesday. | Graphic: Saint Louis Chess Club

See also

5/11/2017 – The Russian Team Championship ended predictably in a clean sweep for Siberia-Sirius, winning all its matches with its unparalleled lineup (Kramnik, Giri, Mamedyarov, etc). The Women’s event was a far tighter affair, won by Yugra (Ushenina) over ShSM Legacy Square Capital (Kosteniuk), coming down to their individual match. Here is a large illustrated report by Alex Yermolinsky.

Video

The Elephant Gambit (1.e4.e5 2.Nf3 d5!?) has never really been given the attention it deserves. It is a very useful surprise weapon. Let us list the advantages of playing this particular opening: 1) Shock value 2) It is very aggressive. Black can take over the initiative early. 3) Many tricky lines 4) Unorthodox. Black is basically taking the game to the opponent as early as move two. Not many openings do that! It's a perfect opening for young players and club players to adopt. Let Andrew Martin select a repertoire for you on this 60 mins, which, if used with discretion, will rack up the points. I am sure that you will enjoy this unusual tour of the Elephant Gambit.

Discuss

And the Kosteniuk game was of interest too. What a gorgeous team to have, huh? Kosteniuk and Lagno! Can I join as a groupie?

x_ileon@yahoo.co.uk 5/14/2016 04:06

It's worth checking the whole Pogonina Lagno game - very interesting how, engine assessments aside, Lagno seems to balance on knife's edge, playing a very psychological battle, keeping various options and taking risks to offset her opponent, and it eventually paid off
In fact Pogonina had already cracked earlier in the game when, in a position where she was the one applying the pressure and should have just quietly built on that (her opponent was defending a loose long castle), she instead played 31.h4? giving Lagno a free gift: counter against the white castle which had been finely secure up to that point!

Lavanda 5/14/2016 02:38

Very nice report!

Ps: Eliseev, born in 1996, is 20, not 18 ;)

and a happy new year 5/14/2016 11:36

An important point of Black's combination in Pogonina-Lagno is the queen sacrifice in the event of 46.Qf7+ Rc7 47.Qxg8 Qc1+! Perhaps this is what White missed? Though with Rcg7 looming and a massacre on g2 White is in deep trouble anyway even without the blunder Rfb4?

Jon Targaryen 5/14/2016 04:01

A slight correction.In the game Pogonina vs Kateryna,Black played 44.Be5 not 44.Bf4 as is written in the article.

Bertman 5/14/2016 02:02

@thlai80

The article is about the Russian Team Championship, not just Kramnik. He got his due, and more than one mention. See the article on rounds 1-5. As to proof, feel free to consult the PGN file.

thlai80 5/14/2016 12:37

A case of an article pumping up an interest in something in the introduction, but totally left out from the article there after. In the Rd6-10(1/2), the author started with "Kramnik's majestic performance", but apart from showing a missed win vs Karjakin, nothing else was followed up. And so I thought it would be reserved and covered in the 2nd article (2/2). Alas, nothing shows up. So, readers now know there's a majestic performance by you-know-who with no proof.